The long-lasting effect of X-ray preheating in the post-reionization intergalactic medium
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2023
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| _version_ | 1866917624456151040 |
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| author | Montero-Camacho, Paulo Zhang, Yao Mao, Yi |
| author_facet | Montero-Camacho, Paulo Zhang, Yao Mao, Yi |
| contents | X-ray photons can penetrate deep into the intergalactic medium (IGM), leading to preheating of the IGM prior to cosmic reionization. X-ray preheating wipes out some of the small-scale structures that would otherwise be present prior to the passage of an ionization front. Accurate modeling of the small-scale structure is vital to the post-reionization IGM since the small-scale structure is ultimately the dominant source of long-lasting relics from hydrogen reionization. However, the precise impact of X-ray preheating in the fossils from hydrogen reionization is highly uncertain. In this work, we explore and establish for the first time, the long-lasting impact of X-ray preheating in the post-reionization IGM via hydrodynamic simulations with high-mass resolution. We find that the addition of X-ray preheating astrophysics leads to an overall lesser impact of the effect of inhomogeneous reionization in the Lyman-$α$ forest -- depending on specific X-ray prescription -- at low redshifts ($z \sim 2$) with respect to a model with no X-ray preheating. However, at high redshifts ($z \sim 4$), our results indicate a strengthening of the relics of reionization in the Lyman-$α$ forest because the IGM becomes more transparent compared to the scenario with no preheating. Thus, the absence of X-ray preheating in Lyman-$α$ modeling can lead to a biased inference of cosmological parameters. Nevertheless, optimistically, the inclusion of X-ray preheating emerges as a promising novel avenue to probe the astrophysics of cosmic dawn. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2307_10598 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The long-lasting effect of X-ray preheating in the post-reionization intergalactic medium Montero-Camacho, Paulo Zhang, Yao Mao, Yi Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics X-ray photons can penetrate deep into the intergalactic medium (IGM), leading to preheating of the IGM prior to cosmic reionization. X-ray preheating wipes out some of the small-scale structures that would otherwise be present prior to the passage of an ionization front. Accurate modeling of the small-scale structure is vital to the post-reionization IGM since the small-scale structure is ultimately the dominant source of long-lasting relics from hydrogen reionization. However, the precise impact of X-ray preheating in the fossils from hydrogen reionization is highly uncertain. In this work, we explore and establish for the first time, the long-lasting impact of X-ray preheating in the post-reionization IGM via hydrodynamic simulations with high-mass resolution. We find that the addition of X-ray preheating astrophysics leads to an overall lesser impact of the effect of inhomogeneous reionization in the Lyman-$α$ forest -- depending on specific X-ray prescription -- at low redshifts ($z \sim 2$) with respect to a model with no X-ray preheating. However, at high redshifts ($z \sim 4$), our results indicate a strengthening of the relics of reionization in the Lyman-$α$ forest because the IGM becomes more transparent compared to the scenario with no preheating. Thus, the absence of X-ray preheating in Lyman-$α$ modeling can lead to a biased inference of cosmological parameters. Nevertheless, optimistically, the inclusion of X-ray preheating emerges as a promising novel avenue to probe the astrophysics of cosmic dawn. |
| title | The long-lasting effect of X-ray preheating in the post-reionization intergalactic medium |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.10598 |